On Tuesday the parliament of Burma (Myanmar) passed the “Buddhist Women’s Special Marriage Bill,” a controversial measure that requires Buddhist women to register with the government if they intend to marry non-Buddhists. Marriages, the measure states, can be stopped if there are “objections.”

Human Rights Watch called the law “incredibly dangerous” and characterized it as being in line with other recent attempts by extremist Buddhist monks in Southeast Asia to incite hatred against Muslims.

The bill is one of four “Protection of Race and Religion Laws” which have been widely criticized as discriminatory by rights groups. The law is considered by observers to be latest attempt to marginalize the Rohingya Muslims who are treated as “outsiders” by Burma’s government and who have fled in their thousands to neighboring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.

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You may very well know us as the publishers of two Buddhist magazines, the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma. Then again, you may not know us at all. Either way, please allow us to re-introduce ourselves:
We’re the Shambhala Sun Foundation. We [...]